Arthritis Foundation

Bariatric surgeon David Salzberg can reel off a list of life-threatening problems associated with morbid obesity. They include diabetes, hypertension, high cholesterol, sleep apnea, joint pain, depression and elevated rates of cancer.

"Twenty percent of the population is morbidly obese, or 75 to 100 pounds over their ideal weight," he said. "Their problems are life-threatening. The increase in the rate of early death is up to 55 percent and that equates to 10 to 15 years off the typical human life span."

Salzberg, who practices at the 1-year-old Riverside Medical & Surgical Weight Loss Center in Newport News, is not alone in calling obesity an...

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